I am writing to the people of Norway as an Ambassador.I do not represent any form of human government.
I am speaking to you an behalf of the Cetacean nation.
I am representing whalekind in an effort to reach a state of co-existence with humankind.
My credentials in this regard are simple. I am a human who has swam with, communicated with, studied, and respected the great whales all of my life. I have repeatedly risked my life and freedom to protect and to conserve the whales. My love for the whales is such that I would not choose to live upon this planet without them.
I have touched and I have been touched by the whales. I have been with them when they frolicked freely in the seas, knowing that their mighty hearts were filled with the joy of life. I have been with them at the moment of their birth, when they have taken their first breath. I have been with them in death. I have felt their hot blood on my skin as the life ebbed slowly away due to the horrendous impact of a grenade harpoon. The survival of the whales is the most important objective of my life.
In 1973, Robert Hunter and I were the first people to physically block a harpooner’s line of fire when we intercepted a Soviet whaling fleet and placed our bodies between the killers and eight fleeing sperm whales. We were in a small inflatable boat, speeding before the plunging steel prow of a Russian kill boat. In front of us, the whales fled for their lives. We could smell the fear in their misty exhalations. We thought that we could make a difference with our Ghandian sea-going stand. Surely these men behind the harpoons would not risk killing a human to satisfy their lust for whale oil and meat. We were wrong!
The whalers demonstrated their contempt for our non-violent protest by firing an explosive harpoon over our heads. The harpoon line slashed into the water and we narrowly escaped death by inches. One of the whales was not so lucky. Will a dull thud followed by a muffled explosion, the entails of a female whale were torn and ripped apart by hot steel shrapnel.
The large bull sperm in the midst of the pod suddenly rose and dove. We had been told by whale experts that the bull would attack us. We were a smaller target than the whaling ship. Anxiously, we held our breath in anticipation of sixty tons of irate muscle and blood torpedoing from the depths into our frail craft.
The ocean erupted behind us. We turned towards the Soviet ship to see a living juggernaut hurl itself at the Russian bow. The harpooner was ready. He pulled the trigger and sent a second explosive missile into the massive head of the whale.
A pitiful scream rang in my ears, a fountain of blood flew into the air, and the deep blue of the ocean rapidly became befouled with dark red blood. The whale thrashed and convulsed violently.
Mortally wounded and crazed with pain, the whale rolled and one great eye made contact with me. The whale dove and a trail of bloody bubbles moved laboriously towards us. Slowly, a gargantuan head emerged from the water and the whale rose at an angle over and above our tiny craft. Blood and brine cascaded from the gaping head wound down onto our bodies. We were helpless, we knew that we would be crushed within seconds as the whale fell upon us. There was little time for fear, only awe. We could not move.
But the whale wavered and towered motionless above us. I looked up pass the daggered six inch teeth into a massive eye, an eye the size of my fist - an eye that reflected back an intelligence, an eye that spoke wordlessly of compassion, an eve that communicated that this whale could discriminate and understood what we had tried to do.
Looking into the whale’s eye, I was overcome with pity, not for the whale but for ourselves, we humans who could so blindly and cruelly commit such an act of blasphemy against this child of the creator.
Ever so slowly, the whale fell back into the sea. As I watched the massive head sunk beneath the swells, the flicker of life extinguished in the whale’s eye. Looking up I saw the blond ape behind the Russian harpoon. He laughed at the pain he had inflicted and he laughed at us for displaying compassion for the whale.
On that day, I knew emotionally, and spiritually that my allegiance lay with the whale first and foremost over the interests of theme humans that would kill them.
Although that great leviathan was in agony and had every cause to hate people and to desire revenge, he had spared our lives. In return, I swore that my life would be given to fighting those who would persecute the whales.
- In 1979, I hunted down, rammed, and permanently retired the pirate whaler Sierra. Her captain and first mate were Norwegians.
- In 1980, my crew sank the Spanish whalers Ibsa I and Ibsa II.. These ships violated their quota restrictions. That same year, we shut down the pirate whaler Astrid and convinced the South African government to seize and sink the illegal whalers, the Susan and Theresa
- In 1981, we exposed illegal whaling activities by the Russians in Siberia.
- In 1985 and 1986, a Sea Shepherd crew obstructed the sport hunting of pilot whales in the Faeroe Islands.
- In 1986, a Sea Shepherd commando team under my command scuttled two of Iceland’s four whalers, the Hvalur 6 and Hvalur 7.
On December 26th, 1992, two crewmembers and myself scuttled the Norwegian vessel Nybraena in port at Steine on the Lofoten Islands.
Six whalers sunk directly. Two whalers sunk officially at our request. A ninth whaler permanently shut down. Our activities have been consistent. Most importantly we have destroyed these ships without causing or suffering an injury, and we have never been convicted of a crime.
The Sea Shepherd conservation society which I founded In 1977 is not a protest organization. We are self-appointed policing organization given credibility by the terms of the United Nations Earth Charter of 1982.
All of our activities have been directed towards operations that ignore or violate the conservation laws of the International Whaling commission (IWC) or other international regulation or treaties.
There is a state of war between some human nations like Norway and the nation of whales. For far too long, this has been a one-sided war, a war of specicide perpetuated by the ignorant lust for profit at any cost-
The nation of Norway, Iceland, Japan, and Denmark continue to commit crimes against whales and against nature and in doing so they are committing crimes against humanity.
The International Whaling Commission is the only legitimate and established whaling regulatory body in existence. In July of 1992, Norway made a deliberate decision to ignore the regulations. If Norway’s declaration to return to whaling is both immoral and criminal.
Back in 1981, Norway joined with Brazil, Japan, Iceland, and the Soviet Union to implement the objection procedure to undermine the IWC decision to ban the cold harpoon. Not satisfied with simply killing them off, Norway decided that Minke whales should continue to die horribly and painfully.
Norway has chosen to become a pirate whaling nation. Icelandic whaling is illegal and it will remain a criminal industry in the eyes of the civilized world despite excuses like bogus scientific research and despite the establishment of a rubber stamp, non-scientific, non-official alternative organization to the IWC which has not surprisingly given the whalers what the whalers want.
The sinking of the Nybraena was simply the enforcement of official regulations against a criminal activity. I informed the media from the Earth Summit Conference in Brazil in June 1992, that I would sink Norwegian a ship if Norway made the decision to withdraw or ignore the IWC. I kept my promise. A ship was scuttled. We will scuttle a few more. We will confront the whalers on the high seas and if need be we will skirmish with the Norwegian Coast Guard in the Norwegian sea, a sea which despite it’s name is home to some of the surviving whales.
The scuttling of the Nybraena was not a terrorist or criminal act. It was in fact an anti-terrorist and anti--criminal act. We do not seek to escape the moral and legal consequences of our actions. We announced our target in advance. We were responsible in removing an instrument of death and destruction without causing death or injury.
In January 1988, I flew to Iceland to address accusations that I had committed a criminal act. Icelandic authorities refused to charge me. Our actions were thus declared by Iceland to have been non-criminal by virtue their refusal to acknowledge the commitment of a crime. I have heard nothing further from Iceland since.
Norway also has not laid charges against the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society or myself. If the Norwegian government believes that our actions were criminal then it is the obligation of the authorities to bring charges against me and in response, if this is done, I will return to Norway for my day in court.
Courtrooms are very powerful battlefields and it is time for this issue to brought before the courts. We acted in accordance to our conscience. We did what we felt in our hearts was right and just. We acted to protect life from death and to help ensure that all of our children’s children will not be robbed of the opportunity to share this beautiful planet with the future children of whalekind.
I admit that there is a possibility that we may have broken some Norwegian laws. We must weigh however the relevance of national laws in Norway when compared to the flagrant violation of international laws by Norway. A nation that violates international law and commits crimes against nature is not a nation that deserves respect for laws which protect the property of law breakers.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a law abiding organization. We rigidly adhere to and respect the laws of nature or lex natura. We hold the position that the laws of ecology take precedence over the laws designed by nation states to protect corporate interests. If Norwegian laws were just with regard to the whales and if Norwegian law were more respectful of international agreements, then there would not have been cause for Sea Shepherd intervention.
The chances are slim that our species will be a success. We are ecologically stupid and nature does not tolerate stupidity for long. But if we do survive, future generations will look back and damn or present generation as ignorant savages who because of greed and lack of vision, robbed the world of so many living treasures.
The nation of Norway will not be recorded as an innocent. Norway will be recorded in the annals of natural history as a nation that chosen to be an enemy of the Earth. Your hands are already stained with blood. The unforgivable crime of species eradication has already taken place. The smell of guilt from the Norwegian coast is already a stench in the nostrils of God.
History will never forget that great Norwegian genus of destruction, a man by the name of Svend Foyn. His invention of the harpoon cannon, steam powered whalers, and compressed air tubes to float whales opened the way to whale massacres of previously unimagined proportions. Because of Foyn, the killing began in earnest in the 1870's. It has not stopped. Without mercy, without thought, the whales have died in agony for over a century, slain by the blood-stained hands of whalers armed with Norwegian technology.
Between 1880 and 1905, the Norwegian slew over 80,000 North Atlantic whales, mostly blues and fins. At the beginning of this century, Norwegians driven by lust for profits spread like a pox along every oceanic coast where whales were found. To the whales, the onslaught of Norwegian whalers was an infestation comparable to the bubonic plagues of Europe.
The blue Whale is nearly extinct because of the Norwegian whalers. Norway is also responsible for the near extermination of the Fin whale, the Right whale, and the Humpback whale.
Our action in Norway was meant to damn you for your past atrocities, to enforce present day violations of whale protection regulations and to deliver a declaration that there are some human beings prepared to fight for the rights of whalekind to survive into the future.
If Norway does not charge me with sinking the ship, then Norway must admit that we acted morally and lawfully. If Norway admits to this, then Norway should do the responsible thing. Obey the law and shut down whaling operations.
If Norway does decide to charge me, then the trial will serve as an international public forum to focus attention on the controversy of Norway’s continued illegal activities.
If I am tried and acquitted, then Norway must again admit that their position is wrong and that whaling must be shut down.
If I am tried and convicted an jailed, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will continue the fight and I will take advantage of the hospitality of your nation by using your jail as an office to continue the struggle to protect whales. With the fate of whalekind at stake, I am not overly concerned about imprisonment. If jailed, I will be a powerful catalyst for an organized boycott of Norwegian products. I will continue the fight in or out of jail. I am prepared to accept whatever might befall.
The whale wars can continue with anti-whaling forces continuing to inflict economic damage on the whaling industry or the whale wars can come to an end with the declaration by Norway that the carnage will stop. Or sadly, the whale wars will end when the whalers succeed in exterminating the whales from the seas.
Finally, I would like to apologize for our rather undiplomatic actions. Polite protest and scientific support was not enough. Norway was not moved by fact, by compassion, or by world opinion. We took aggressive but non-violent action against an industry that profits from death.
We will continue to scuttle Norwegian ships. We will also confront Norwegians whalers with our ships in the Norwegian sea in the spring of 1993. If need be we will confront the Norwegian coast guard. We are prepared to fill Norwegian jails with our crews and we are prepared to sink our own ships if captured.
Our conflict is not with the Norwegian people. We are in opposition to Norwegian whalers and those people insensitive enough to support them.
My criticisms of Norwegian environmental atrocities can be countered by examples of Norwegian actions of concern for the environment. I am indebted to Norway for my maritime education which began on a Norwegian cargo ship. Because of this my feelings for Norway are ambivalent. I have many friends who are Norwegians. I also have had many close encounters with whales and I consider these whales to be friends also.
Thus it is difficult to speak benevolently to a nation that is systematically involved in the extermination of one’s friends. At the same time, it would be unfair of me to condemn a nation because of the self interests of only a few.
There are many among the people of Norway who do indeed have vision and it is because of Norwegians who care and who are concerned that there is hope for the nation of Norway. Norwegians have the makings of a humane people.
We do not own this Earth, we simply borrow it from our children and we have a moral obligation to return this Earth to them in a better condition than we ourselves did receive it.
It is my hope that our generation will be able to reverse our destructive tendencies and that we will be a people that our great, great, great grandchildren will be proud of.
For one day, if the whales survive, we may discover the ability to communicate with them. We are even now on the threshold of some very exciting break-through in this direction. And if we do, ask yourselves, do you want your children to hear about what you did to the whales from the very beings that you have helped to slaughter?
It is a certainty that the whales will talk about you in the same vein as Jews now talk of Nazis. For in the eyes of whalekind, there is little difference between the behavior of the monsters of the Reich and the monsters behind the harpoon.
Am I prepared to die to defend the whales? The answer is yes. I would consider it an honour to die in their defense. Perhaps you will indulge me in this possibility. However, as to my morality, history will absolve me.
Personally, I do what I do because in 1975, a whale looked me in the eye and spared my life. His gift of life to me leaves me with a life-long obligation to serve and protect whalekind. Towards this end, I could and most probably will die happily.
As a conservationist I admit that I can be an annoyance and an irritation. But I know that my actions will guarantee that I will make a great ancestor to my children’s great grandchildren and a hero to all the children of tomorrow.
That indeed is worth fighting and dying for.
Captain Paul Watson 42, founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1977. Before that, he was a founding director of the Greenpeace Foundation in 1971.
Paul Watson gained his sea experience from Norwegian and Swedish cargo vessels and as an officer in the Canadian Coast Guard. He studied communications at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Presently he is a professor of biocentric ecology at Pasadena Art Center in California. His position as President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and captain of the Society’s ships is voluntary.
Paul Watson is a Canadian citizen.
On December 26th, 1992, Captain Watson and two of his crew scuttled an outlaw Norwegian whaling ship on the Lofoten Islands.